Guido readers will be delighted to know Richard Burgon had another media round this morning. When questioned by Nick Robinson as to why Labour have a WASPI pension policy to give people like Theresa May, Dianne Abbott and Harriet Harman £20,000, Burgon hit back saying it was a cheap argument.
Robinson had to remind the esteemed former-solicitor that £58 billion isn’t, in fact, cheap…
Burgon was on characteristic form last night, insofar as he was a laughing stock to the whole audience. Off the back of his appearance Guido has some questions for the Shadow Justice Secretary:
One final question to the Labour Party: why do you feel Richard is qualified to be a Secretary of State?
Fresh from Labour’s announcement they want to run all broadband, the party has now published Richard Burgon’s response to crime figures… only, they haven’t posted it at all; It’s blank. To be fair, this is about as much of the farting commie Guido ever wants to hear from…
Readers may remember when Kay Burley slapped down Shadow Justice Secretary and Brain of Britain Richard Burgon on her new Breakfast show, when he implied Labour won the last election. This week Kay had to remind him that Gordon Brown was removed as Prime Minister. Guido hopes this continues as a weekly segment…
After last night’s shenanigans, and based on what Boris said to the Commons, once again Britain is cautiously returning to an election footing. It’s all in the hands of the EU for now…
Labour’s previously stated position is that they’re positively ecstatic about the thought of an election, provided Article 50 is extended to January next year. In a move as unsurprising as the sun rising in the morning, however, some Labour figures are showing signs of cold feet. Any wonder given Boris’s 15 point lead in the polls?…
Most obviously giving the game away is Lord Wood, who tweeted he wouldn’t actually back an election until around 2020…
If Labour will only support a general election when “the threat of a disastrous No Deal is taken off the table” (Corbyn Sep 19), we will oppose an election until the future EU-UK free trade deal is successfully negotiated. Which can’t be what he means. So what’s the actual test?
— Stewart Wood (@StewartWood) October 22, 2019
An excuse that’s no doubt going to be parroted by Labour MPs keen on a second referendum…
Ken Clarke has also taken to the airwaves this morning, warning if Boris tries passing a bill to allow an election with just 50% support of MPs (rather than the two-thirds needed under the Fixed Terms Parliament Act), many Labour MPs will try amending it to allow votes at 16. Then Guido received an email from Momentum, crying out that Boris’s election call is, in fact, a ‘threat’.
The Tories can find some relief from Richard Burgon of all people, who said this morning that Labour will back an election “as soon as the EU agrees that extension.” Unfortunately in the same breath, he also gave pause for thought:
The Conservative Party’s greatest asset there…
UPDATE: The first Labour MP to openly say he’ll refuse an election even if the EU guarantee an extension to the end of January…
Last night top Labour figures including Richard Burgon, Lara McNeil and Liam Young attended a ‘Standing With Corbyn’ Rally in Brighton. Ironically the speakers called for a “General Election Now” despite their dear leader repeatedly refusing to vote for one…
Pride of place in the front row of the pro-Jeremy Corbyn rally alongside those top Labour figures were a host of former members, expelled or suspended over alleged anti-Semitic incidents. Guido has helpfully listed them here…
Why do members of the Shadow Cabinet and Labour NEC keep bumping into these people..?
Shadow Justice Secretary, and general lump of incompetence, Richard Burgon had a shocker of an interview last night when trying to explain Labour’s non-existant Brexit policy. Guido felt it was our duty to broadcast the car crash. Could he make it more obvious he only got to where he is today because of his uncle?…
A Kenyan Regional Assembly today enjoyed a short-lived row about air pollution – not one sparked by Extinction Rebellion protests – but by one MP’s fart that was so bad it caused the Speaker to temporarily suspend the sitting. In Westminster it’s usually Bercow creating the stink…
One representative interrupted the proceedings to say “Honourable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is“, however the member accused replied “I am not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues”. The Speaker then suspended the sitting because “We cannot continue sitting in an environment that smells bad“. At least this time we can say for sure Richard Burgon wasn’t responsible…
All too predictably, Labour have managed to select someone to fight Boris Johnson in Uxbridge who’s already been involved in an anti-Semitism scandal before he even became a candidate. The past output of Ali Milani includes:
“Nah u won’t mate. It’ll cost you a pound #jew.”
“Israel has no right to exist”
“@piersmorgan u are a zionist and corperate [sic] jackass”
Richard Burgon was challenged over why he was campaigning for a candidate who had said that, Burgon said the tweets were “disgraceful” but Milani shouldn’t be barred because of tweets he sent “when he was a teenager” and it was all ok now because he had been a “programme of learning” since then. Burgon didn’t reveal whether he’d been on an education course himself after his own Zionist rant…
Funnily enough that doesn’t seem to have stopped Milani from working with organisations like “Friends of Al Aqsa”, a Leicester-based group which supports Hamas and advocates the elimination of Israel. At least he’s in good company, Friends of Al Aqsa also donated to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign and paid for his trip to meet Hamas in 2010. Par for the course in Corbyn’s Labour Party…
Richard Burgon evidently hasn’t done much to refine his interview technique since his mauling by Emma Barnett over the lies he told about his Zionist rant. This time the ham-fisted Corbynista tried to browbeat Sophy Ridge by trying to turn the questions round and claiming she hadn’t read Gloria De Piero’s resignation speech. Which she obviously had. Downright embarrassing yet again from the man who wants to be Justice Secretary…
Jeremy Corbyn’s old friends at Hamas have landed him in hot water again after issuing an adulatory press statement “saluting” Corbyn’s “solidarity message” at the ‘Nakba’ march last weekend. As Guido reported earlier this week, the march was addressed by multiple Labour frontbenchers including Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott. Despite being ridden with anti-Semitism, as it is every year…
Despite still being a patron of the anti-Semitism infested Palestine Solidarity Campaign who organised the march, Corbyn didn’t attend himself this year but got Diane Abbott to read his message to the crowd instead. Clearly it hit the right notes with Hamas, the terrorist organisation’s response is positively gushing:
“We have received with great respect and appreciation the solidarity message sent by the British Labor Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to the participants in the mass rally that took place in central London last Saturday in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of Nakba…
“We also salute Mr. Jeremy Corbyn for his principled position in rejecting the so-called Trump Plan for the Middle East or the ‘Deal of the Century’…”
He should really send Seumas to have a word with Hamas about sending their compliments privately in future…
Several members of the Shadow Cabinet spent their Saturday attending a central London ‘Palestinian solidarity’ rally, run by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which was recently exposed as being ridden with anti-Semitism. Labour frontbenchers Laura Pidcock, Richard Burgon, and Diane Abbott spoke at the rally where protesters spread conspiracies from ‘Israel controlling the media’ to ‘Israel is responsible for anti-Semitic abuse’. Although it is possible that Richard Burgon didn’t notice, after all he tweeted support for the Palestine rally with the Jordanian flag…
The march was led down Regent Street by a man who claimed Jews in Israel “owns the banks and the media” and that “Israel did 9/11.” Don’t expect any condemnations from Labour MPs any time soon – Jeremy Corbyn is still patron of the PSC…
The BBC’s Emma Barnett took Shadow Justice Minister Richard Burgon to task over his rant against ‘Zionists’ that he tried to deny he delivered. Last month it was revealed that he lied about not saying it, and now he’s doubling down by trying to claim he didn’t lie. There was a time where this behaviour would provide a one way ticket out of the shadow cabinet, but apparently not under Jeremy Corbyn…
Richard Burgon is facing an appeal against his “Nazi imagery” libel victory against The Sun after video footage revealed he had been less than honest under oath over whether he had said “Zionism is the enemy”. This is the man who would be in charge of the Courts if Labour win an election…
Even though Burgon’s own band was absolved of using “Nazi imagery”, Guido has learned that Burgon is said to be a fan of a metal band called ‘Sacred Reich’.[…] Read the rest
Readers will recall that Richard Burgon won a court case in January against The Sun. It was over a story they ran that claimed that his heavy metal band used “Nazi imagery”. The Sun argued in mitigation that there was a public interest in this issue because of the issue of Labour’s problem with anti-semitism and Burgon’s potential attitude towards Jews.[…] Read the rest
Richard Burgon has released a statement after being caught bang to rights lying about whether he had said “Zionism is the enemy of peace”. Instead of apologising for lying on national TV, the Shadow Justice Secretary, also a qualified solicitor, tries to weasel out of it in a comically contrived way:
[…] Read the rest“I believed it was inaccurate to have claimed that I had used that phrase.
Awkward questions for Richard Burgon to answer. He repeatedly denied to Andrew Neil saying that “Zionism is the enemy of peace” and said over and over that he wouldn’t have said that because it’s not his view. Here he is expressing his view that “Zionism is the enemy of peace”.[…] Read the rest
Richard Burgon has won his libel case against The Sun for an article which claimed that his heavy metal band used “Nazi imagery”. A “delighted” Burgon has been awarded a healthy £30,000 in damages. Burgon says he will use it to fund a paid justice internship for a young person from Leeds…
The Sun have put out a statement saying they are “deeply disappointed” by the judgement and are planning to appeal:
[…] Read the rest
Perhaps the only thing more predictable about a socialist government than brutal crackdowns on civil liberties and economic collapse is the UK’s hard left coming out in solidarity with it. Sure enough, the usual suspects are out in force in the Guardian, with numerous senior Labour MPs including John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon, Chris Williamson and Clive Lewis co-signing a letter along with Owen Jones condemning the “US attempt at regime change” in Venezuela and instead calling for “dialogue”.[…] Read the rest
Richard Burgon has become the latest senior Labour figure to forget what Labour’s six so-called ‘Brexit tests’ are and make up a completely unrelated set on the spot. Guido is surprised that broadcasters don’t challenge the shadow Cabinet on what they are more often since they love to bring them up in debate but none seem to have a clue what they actually are.[…] Read the rest
Momentum founder Jon Lansman:
“I don’t think Jeremy will overstay his welcome”.
